“If (the students) leave third grade without a foundation in reading, they cannot succeed in all of their other areas of learning,” Lautenbaugh said.

Lautenbaugh is working on a bill that will disallow students to jump to fourth grade without passing a proficiency test.

“For those students that cannot demonstrate that, there would be an immediate intensive intervention, hopefully over that summer so the student doesn't have to be held back,” Lautenbaugh said.

OPS Assistant Superintendent ReNae Kehrberg said the district already intervenes, with one of the largest summer school programs in Nebraska.

"We feel really good about the fact that we're focusing on student mastery at every grade level and giving the kids supports to get there,” Kehrberg said.

Kehrberg believes evaluation of student progress needs more than one exam and should not be part of OPS education.

"To simply say you missed one test and as a result, you're going to repeat that whole grade level runs contrary to common sense,” Kehrberg said. "If the research doesn't indicate that this is successful in Chicago or Florida or other places, it's probably not something you'd want a school district to replicate."

"I think the cost is greater over the long run of letting kids that are set up to fail proceed onward and fail,” Lautenbaugh said.

Lautenbaugh also wants to add another test at the high school level to ensure the students are ready for college without remedial classes. He also proposes incentives for teachers who get board certified and work in high-poverty schools.

Already, 15 board-certified teachers are in OPS, and another four are waiting results while two others just started the process.

Kehrberg said supporting the certification is a good match for OPS or any school district.

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